LAMA Agency, in collaboration with Cooperatives Europe, carried out an exploratory study on the challenges and opportunities of applying the collaborative economy to cooperative companies.

The study, recently presented at the conference “ISIRC 2016 – Social Innovation in the 21st Century: Beyond welfare capitalism?”, shows the results of an online mapping survey that collected empirical cases of platform cooperatives from 11 European countries. In addition, outcomes of a number of interviews carried out with representatives of national cooperative associations covering 8 European member States, are mapped in the study and were also topic in the presentation.

Central issue of the analysis comprises the potential benefits of a convergence between cooperatives and the collaborative economy. Moreover, a subject is the role of platform cooperatives, bringing together the most successful elements of the “cooperative model” (such as collective ownership, democratic governance, social orientation, strong ties with local communities, etc.) with the increasingly evident potential of digital innovation and digital platforms. The paper provides also suggestions for further research and work at EU level.

Download the paper here.  

Authors: Elena Como, Agnès Mathis, Marco Tognetti, Andrea Rapisardi.